


How Do You Solve a Problem like Pink Pearl?

by FalonomAfterMidnight



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: ADHD, Ableism, Ableist Language, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Pearl (Steven Universe), Bittersweet Ending, Fire, Flashbacks, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Headcanon, Neurodiversity, Pre-Canon, Shout-outs, Some Humor, Stimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-21 16:45:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14919122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalonomAfterMidnight/pseuds/FalonomAfterMidnight
Summary: What it was like before Pink Diamond had a "new, sensible, custom-made Pearl" delivered to her.





	How Do You Solve a Problem like Pink Pearl?

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my personal headcanon that Pink Diamond's first Pearl (if she even had one) and "our" Pearl are total polar opposites.

An incredibly big accomplishment that required a lot of responsibility rewarded a Homeworld Gem with her very own Pearl.

After Pink Diamond was finally given her own colony--the planet Earth and its Moon--by Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond, she was also given a servant Gem as well.

Pink Diamond's Pearl, like all the other Pearls that belonged to Diamonds, had an uncatty resemblance to her owner. Her ovular-shaped (Pink Diamond would never question that aspect until much later) gemstone was located on her navel, and she had pink-colored skin and lighter pink-colored hair.

She was a sweet, imaginative, passionate, bubbly, empathetic assistant, and truly cared a ton for her Diamond. And Pink Diamond greatly appreciated her Pearl's creativity, spontaneity, and zany sense of humor. When Blue and Yellow weren't around, they would have so much free fun time together and would laugh so hard until they were crying.

It wasn't apparent at first. But as time went on, Pink Pearl's eccentricities became obvious.

* * *

When other Gems were talking to her, Pink Pearl would often gradually zone out of the conversation and start staring off into space. For example...

One evening, while examining her colony, Pink Diamond heard her phone ring, so she turned to her servant for her to go get it. "Pearl." Pink said.

"Yes, My Diamond?" Her Pearl perked up and said.

"Would you please get the phone?" Pink Diamond asked. "I think it might be from Yellow."

After two seconds of stillness, Pink Pearl confusedly cocked her head. "...Eh? What was that?" She questioned.

Pink Diamond tried to restrain her aggravation. "I _said_ , would you get--" She started to repeat herself when her Pearl quickly cut her off.

"Oh my, yes yes! The phone, the phone!" Pink Pearl finally fully registered what her Diamond had said and zoomed off quickly to pick up the incoming message. Good thing she was _very_ responsive to short and direct commands.

Pink Diamond sighed, but didn't dare complain to Yellow. After all, it was _her_ Pearl. It was something she would have to get used to...

* * *

One afternoon, during break, Yellow Pearl and Pink Pearl ran into an Amethyst guard.

"Hey there, how y'all doing?" The Amethyst guard greeted to them.

"Hello, uh..." Pink Pearl struggled to remember that benevolent Gem's name. "Was it, um..." Pink Pearl closed her eyes in frustration. _Dangit._ "Amethyst which Cut again...?" She trailed off, not wanting to sound stupid for saying the wrong name. She didn't know why such details like other Gems' names just kept slipping from her mind.

"Amethyst Facet-5 Cut-8XH!" The guard corrected her. This was not the first time a fellow Gem had to remind Pink Pearl something important.

Seeing this, Yellow Pearl looked away and covered her mouth to silence her laughing at her co-worker's forgetfulness.

Pink Pearl flushed red from embarrassment and bowed apologetically. "I am so, so sorry!" She pleaded.

The Amethyst (like the rest of her sisters) just playfully laughed it off. "No no, it's totally fine!" Just then, she heard an Agate call from a distance. "Welp, gotta go!" And she left.

As soon as the Amethyst guard was gone, Yellow Pearl turned to Pink Pearl and snickered meanly. "You're not very bright, are you?" She sneered. This comment caused tears to spring to Pink Pearl's eyes as she clenched her fists in anger.

"That's enough, Pearl!" Yellow Diamond marched right over, picked up her Pearl by the scruff of her neck like a kitten, and placed her high up on her shoulder.

Pink Pearl was glad at the reprieve, but still felt so upset by the teasing. She really had no idea what was wrong, if anything, with herself or her gemstone.

* * *

The inside of Pink Pearl's gemstone was a disorganized disaster area. Okay, maybe not exactly a disaster area _per se_ , but most of her items were stored quite randomly and out of order.

Because of this, important things often got lost inside, and it was a difficult task to try and find something what she was actively looking for in a short matter of time.

This one incident, because she couldn't find where she had put her special code card (no numbers, but still) to access a certain door, Pink Pearl decided to snatch up Blue Pearl's and use it for herself so that she could get inside. Without asking for permission first. Well, she clearly didn't think _that_ one through.

After Blue Pearl complained to her Diamond about what happened, Blue Diamond made Pink Pearl give back what she stole and ordered her to apologize to her own Diamond. But don't worry, Pink Diamond forgave her very remorseful Pearl.

* * *

Instead of thought-out steps, Pink Pearl would make plans as they go along. That, and mostly because she was often distracted by more eventful stimuli.

One day on Earth, Pink Diamond stumbled upon primitive humans making fire. Intrigued, Pink decided to make a campfire herself by gathering tools. It wasn't part of Pink's original plan for the day, but Pink Pearl didn't mind the change too much; in fact, she was fond of it. Anyway, when she ran out of branches, Pink Diamond instructed her Pearl to keep an eye on the fire while she left to get more wood. What could possibly go wrong?

Pink Pearl eventually got tired of waiting, and decided to tinker around with the various other objects that Pink Diamond gathered--and ended up making the fire even bigger.

"My Diamond is going to be so pleased with me!" Pink Pearl felt so proud of herself.

Then, the sight of some wild animals running past caught her eye. Pink Pearl happily chased after them and left the site, and... well, let's just say that she would feel sorry for the Lapis Lazulis who had to put out the forest flames.

(In her defense though, THAT one was mainly on Pink Diamond herself, so Pink Pearl wasn't scolded by Blue and Yellow as badly for recklessly putting themselves in danger. At least Pink Diamond was still proud of her anyway.)

* * *

When she was sitting, she would either swing or bounce her legs, or tap her foot, instead of staying still. This annoyed Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl to no end, who would tell to her stop, and poke her if she didn't.

During one meeting, Pink Pearl heard some noises from behind the door, and suddenly got out of her chair and tried to sneak out with the intention of trying to find the source of the noise... or, more generally, to find something better to do. She was quickly caught, dragged back to her seat, and scolded harshly.

Her peers would call her not-so-pleasant things like, "defective", "a cuckoo", "a will-o'-the-wisp", or "a clown". The other Pearls would brace themselves if it sounded like she was showing up. This hurt Pink Pearl, but she tried her best to keep her chin up.

* * *

Pink Pearl would often reject tasks that required concentrating and sustained efforts. She _detested_ jotting down records. Pink Diamond often received a very pouty face from her servant if she was asked to do record and write down something. She would either start but then stop and do something else instead, or not even begin at all. Pink Pearl gradually forced herself to do so later on, but it felt excruciating each time.

On the other hand, when Pink Pearl was fully interested in something, she would focus _so_ intensely on the subject, she would easily block out everything else and lose track of time.

She once became so hyperfocused on reading about an event that happens on Earth that she accidentally made herself late for a meeting. In fact, by the time she finally snapped out of it and dashed off, the meeting was already ending. Pink Diamond let that one go because the meeting wasn't that special anyway, but Pink Pearl was so mortified, she vowed to be more careful for next time.

* * *

One day, when the Diamonds let their Pearls out on their break, the latter chose to hang out in a nice, spacious room with a pretty fountain. Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl were perfectly content with gossiping about various topical things on a couch, but Pink Pearl quickly lost track of the uninteresting blah-blah and got bored. She stayed out of the talking altogether and started daydreaming instead. Because if she did join in, she would often either impulsively interrupt, talk over them, or talk so fast and so quickly that nobody could understand a word she was saying.

Everything was fine... at least until Pink Pearl slipped away from her group and jumped in the fountain. Pink Diamond was _most_ upset when her moms made her run over and fish her Pearl out of the water. Yellow Pearl pointed and laughed her butt off at the scene, while Blue Pearl kept to herself and just stared in disbelief instead.

"I'm sorry, my Diamond..." Pink Pearl sheepishly said as her Diamond dried her off with a towel. "It seemed like fun..."

"It's okay, Pearl." Pink Diamond, who had matured a bit more, reassured. "I actually did that once myself, and Yellow gave me a spanking!" She said with a laugh.

Pink Pearl cringed at the thought of her delicate butt being smacked. "That must've been painful."

Pink Diamond chuckled. "It could've been worse."

Meanwhile, Blue and Yellow discussed the incident privately.

"What in Stars' name was she _thinking_?" Yellow Diamond groaned as she rubbed her forehead.

"She evidently wasn't." Blue Diamond replied, shaking her head. "That's the problem."

Unfortunately, this was the last straw for the other Diamonds. They decided that something had to be done.

* * *

Finally, one morning, Pink Diamond went to find her Pearl, but she was nowhere to be seen. So, in a panic, she ran to Blue and Yellow for answers.

She was devastated upon hearing that her old Pearl was taken away because she was seen as too "immature" and "unfit to assist a Diamond".

"Is she going to be shattered?!" Pink shrieked.

"N-no, no!" Blue reassured, waving her hands to try and calm Pink down. "She will only be staying with White for the time being."

"You will be receiving one of her Pearls in exchange for your old one." Yellow revealed.

White Diamond had so many beautiful Pearls just for ornamentation; not all of them were employed, so she had a quite a few to spare.

Blue Diamond left the room for a few minutes, then returned with a pretty white Gem in her hands. "Here is your new Pearl." Blue set the Pearl down on the floor. "She's quite a fancy one, too."

Yellow tried to sound nice, for Blue's sake. "She used to be custom-made just for White, but she's yours now."

Pink excitedly looked at her new Pearl, but suddenly frowned. "Custom-made?" Pink started making circular shapes with fingers, and gestured to the Pearl's ovular gemstone on her forehead. Because Pink clearly remembered that Blue and Yellow's Pearl's gemstones were perfectly round in shape. "Then why is her gemstone...?"

Yellow Diamond sighed. "Sometimes, it just happens in the process..." Yellow just wanted to get the annoying younger Gem out of her hair, so she didn't dare try to question that Pearl as well.

This particular Pearl looked very much like the original Pink Pearl. The physical differences weren't too drastic; her skin was completely white, her ovular-shaped gemstone was placed on her forehead instead of her navel, and her slicked-back hair was peach-colored.

Mentally, she was quite the opposite. And as so, her eccentricities also became obvious.

Pink's new Pearl was _very_ attentive, no-nonsense, neat, and proper. She made sure everything went to plan and made sure there were no changes to the order. Since that she wasn't good at handling change well like Pink's first Pearl, there was the chance her anxiety would get the better of her and Pearl would be at the mercy of a meltdown or a shutdown that nobody knew how to handle.

Pearl sometimes had trouble with making eye contact. She seemed very uncomfortable when touched ( _especially_ without her permission first). She would flinch and clamp her hands over her ears whenever there were loud noises. She had trouble instigating or entering a conversation (she felt communicating visually, via holograms, was easier to her) or telling jokes (Pearl often took them far too literally, much to Pink Diamond's disappointment), and when she did, she would bluntly infodump on what interested her (such as Gem history) until her peers would give up on her. The other Pearls would still dread her one way or another. The new Pearl didn't understand why others would get angry at what seemed like a wonderful topic to her, or why they would feel hurt if she said something wrong. And when she felt a strong emotion, Pearl would twirl around in circles and flap her hands.

All that said, Pearl actually did in fact also care very deeply for her Diamond; she just wasn't always sure how to properly express it.

She was lucky that, at the very least, she was considered a vast improvement over Pink's previous Pearl because she seemed far more competent and serious.

And in the end, Pink Diamond was still happy with her Pearl, no matter what kind she was.

**Author's Note:**

> Q: What do Maria Von Trapp and Scarlett O'Hara all have in common?  
> A: They have the earliest known historical female cases of ADHD, at least in fiction.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


End file.
